In becoming a part of food industry, one requires knowing whys and hows of everything. One requires having an interest in preparing delicious desserts that not only taste good also, look tempting. Pastry chef needs to inculcate an art of making and beautifying the desserts. It is interesting, creative, intricate and challenging to be a pastry chef. Having an artistic presence in your preparations creates temptation in the eyes of the beholder, as people want something that is feast for their tongue as well as their eyes.
The process of becoming a pastry chef involves specific knowledge, specialized skills and a few personal characteristics. What distinguishes a professional pastry chef from an amateur is the organization and detail-orientation. As we see that desserts are usually multi-layered so, it requires proper assembling of several components together to have a decent final product. Each ingredient requires being measured properly and added in a perfect way to get the best results. Hard work and patience are the virtues of a good chef. It requires a lot of stamina to stand continuously for long hours to get the desired output.
Having an eye for creativity is particularly important in making pastry more than any other type of culinary. Patience is a key to yummy pastries and an asset for pastry chefs. Desserts always require extensive preparation. A good pastry chef always has a keen understanding towards the scientific procedures behind their preparations. As a chef, a person has to handle fragile and perishable items which will need complete know how of food safety. There are always chemical properties for every ingredient and they way they are put together. Nutrition science knowledge is vital to take extreme caution while handling food items as it is about the consumers’ health.
A large number of pastry chefs are actually going to Europe and US and coming back to India working in hotels, opening their own pastry shops or doing on line business. Pastry being such a niche specialized area, you actually need a perfect place for set up, good quality equipments and more then all a highly trained pastry faculty. Once you enter the pastry world you will be surprised to know the opportunities or area of exposure. Bread, chocolate, pastries, designer cakes, ice cream, travel cakes & vinnoeserie are just very few topics of the wider range.
Visually appealing food items and healthy items at the same time are the basics of preparing any dessert. To be skillful is also a major field to master dessert preparation. Measuring ingredients as how to mix, how much to mix and what to put is an important knowledge to be had by chefs. Plus people skills, management skills and business skills, everything is necessary to be learnt by a pastry chef.
Whatever level of education you choose, it is necessary to choose a right program that offers a lot of guidance and expert advice from time to time. Vital things to compare while choosing culinary programs are mainly the faculty, facilities and accreditation.
• Faculty— Culinary faculty should consist of experienced chefs who are experienced and can well mentor the people who have just stepped in this field.
• Accreditation— Always go for a culinary federation that is recognized and has a name that can help you move forward while applying your skills in the market.
• Facilities— A good culinary facility always involves working in a professional kitchen and on job trainings using standard industry equipments.
It is important while working on making a career to imbibe all sorts of practical experiences, part-time job training, finances, customer relations and student placement services.
Pastry chefs are not only limited to making cakes and baking. There are swarms of options for anyone. One can work for a bakery, patisserie or even a restaurant. One can even finance in own start-up as a baker or even can teach further. There are lots of career options to pursue.
Pastry chefs are always in demand and they get paid well. The more education and experience you have, the more money you will make. Pastry chef is a wonderful career to pursue for anyone who is artistic and creative, practical and logical. It’s a career with rich opportunities—making delicious, wonderful and tempting desserts.
(Author Niklesh Sharma is Managing Director of Academy of Pastry Arts)
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